I am a retired nurse and I too have noted people want "nice" , "caring"doctors.
However, my experience is that some of the most "beloved" doctors with the best "bedside manner " are at best incompetent and at worse careless in their practice.

Personally I do not care if he/she is the best listener in town if he does not know what to do with the information .

I want SKILL so I look for good diagnosticians and then specialists to treat...to heck with if I like the guy. He might be a jerk, but if he is a skilled partitioner I will find a good listener at my church or social club!

Hard to believe no one said they would want a doctor that had as much interest in helping the patient as in his interest of getting in as many 7 mins., quickies as he can in a day and handing out as many scripts as possible...maybe you can do an article on those issues...